On the first birthday of the baby I want to cook something special so that this day will be remembered forever. A bright detail of the festive decor will be a figure in the form of the number 1, made of napkins, balls or other materials. And edible little ones can be served at the festive table.
How to make a little unit for a year with your own hands from napkins
The most popular figures in the form of numbers are created from corrugated, tissue paper or ordinary colored napkins. Before making a large unit, you need to prepare the necessary materials:
- cardboard or expanded polystyrene;
- marker;
- centimeter;
- scissors;
- thin galvanized or floristic wire;
- paper napkins;
- masking tape;
- stapler;
- glue gun.
A large cardboard box is suitable for creating a product: a volume unit will be formed from it. From a sheet of polystyrene foam, you can cut out a flat figure and decorate it using the same technique.
Cut the blank from cardboard:
- Note the height of the figure - 90 cm. The width of the lower part should be about 30 cm, the rack - 8 cm.
- The width of the figure in the middle is 15 cm, in the upper part - 12 cm, and the height of the “tail” is 25 cm.
- Cut two parts with these options.
- It will take another long strip of cardboard about 15 cm wide to fasten the blanks together and get a three-dimensional figure.
- Assemble the product using masking tape and a glue gun.
How to make paper flowers
Now it’s time to prepare a decor for a napkin. If you are using tissue or corrugated paper, take 2-3 rolls. Napkins will need several packs, depending on how voluminous you make the flowers.
- Take napkins and fold several times. The more layers, the more fluffy the bud will be.
- Cut a circle with a diameter of 2.5-3 cm. The size of the flowers can be increased, but you should focus on the width of the figure so that the blanks can be placed in even rows, but this is not necessary.
- Fasten the circles from the napkins in the center with a stapler. If you use expanded polystyrene instead of cardboard, fix the center of the buds not with a stapler, but with a thin floral wire. Its edges are twisted on the back side and serve to fix the flower on the number.
- If desired, cut each layer, shortening it by 2-3 mm, so that the flower turns out smooth.
- Start pulling the edges of each napkin layer toward the center, one after the other, moving in a circle. It should be a fluffy bud. Make the required number of colors, focusing on the dimensions of the cardboard blank.
It remains to glue the buds to the base. You can use different shades of napkins and combine them to create different patterns. Now you know how to make a little unit for a year with your own hands with flowers from napkins. But there are several more options for the design of such crafts.
Unit for a boy
Many parents are interested in how to make a unit for a boy. Representatives of the blue palette are considered masculine shades. But sometimes it’s better to focus on a specific topic, for example, marine. If the flowers seem too unsuitable for you, you can use a single layer of paper folded in a tube for a figurine of a napkin. Such blanks are glued to the base tightly to each other using the same technology as the flowers. When using corrugated paper, it is cut into equal strips, and then one of the sides is stretched to give shape and volume, and rolled up with a tube. The edges of the strips can be made uneven using curly scissors.
Other ways to design ones
Napkins are the fastest and most economical way to decorate a festive decor in the form of a single. But there are other options for how to make a little unit for a year with your own hands, using improvised materials. It all depends on your imagination. You can even use ordinary colored paper: if you cut the same circles out of it and stick on the overlap, according to the principle of scales, you can get an unusual decoration for a holiday or an object for a photo shoot. Another option: twist paper strips in spirals and decorate them with a blank coated with white paint.
Scrapbooking
As one of the ways to decorate the workpiece, you can offer decorating with flowers used for scrapbooking. Buying such an ornament in a store will be too expensive, therefore it is better to make it yourself using ordinary wet wipes. They must be dried before use.
For work you will need:
- a stencil of cardboard in the form of a flower with five petals;
- scissors;
- dried wet wipes;
- glue gun;
- candle;
- artificial stamens;
- paint.
First, cut out several blanks for the petals using a stencil. Using stencils of different sizes, you can make flowers very similar to natural ones. No need to try to make the edges perfectly even - so the buds will look more natural. Then dilute the paint in a small container, and, having achieved the desired color, lower the blanks into it one after another, wring them out and completely dry. Use a hairdryer to speed up drying. Before assembly, scorch the edges of the petals above the candle to bend them to the center. Use the center of the flame so as not to burn the edges and spoil the flowers.
Assembling flowers and product design
When all the petals are processed, cut a hole in the central part of each blank and, after collecting 2-3 blanks together, place the stamens in the center and spread them to the sides. Make the right amount of flowers. It is not necessary to glue the cardboard base completely. If you prime the blank and cover it with white paint, you can make a composition of flowers for scrapbooking in the center, and the rest of the design in the same technique, but with other objects. Use brightly colored paper, unusual cotton fabric, wood and metal elements, ribbons and beads.
Balloon unit
Another popular type of holiday decor is balloons. Many agencies offer their services in the manufacture of any figures from this material. But how to make a unit of balls with your own hands? It is not as difficult as it seems.
Prepare the following materials:
- ball pump;
- scissors;
- about 100 small balloons of the right color;
- fishing line.
The basic element for assembling the figure is called "four" - a set of 4 balls of the same size. To make the balls the same, you can use the calibrator. Inflate the required number of balls and connect them into “fours” using a fishing line, with it fasten the parts together. For the longest part of the structure, about ten “fours” will be needed, the base consists of nine, and the “nose” of three.
Edible holiday unit
On the first birthday of the baby, you can make various goodies in the form of units. There are several options for how to make a cake. The basis is always the usual rectangular cakes, from which the desired shape is cut. Inside and on top they are smeared with cream. Most often, mastic is used to decorate sweets. Various figures are made from it, which are used as decoration. Another way to make one for a year with your own hands is to bake gingerbread cookies and paint them. You can give them the desired shape with a special device in the form of a figure or with an ordinary knife. The treat can also be decorated with different animals from mastic.